Archive for the ‘honey bees’ Category

I had some crazy dreams when I was growing up. I’m sure that’s normal. It’s funny how these dreams drop from our desires and are replaced by more realistic ones and other ideal ones.

One of my dreams was to climb Mt. Everest. I use to think about how difficult and trying it would be and craved the challenge. Then one day I woke up and knew that I would never climb Mt. Everest because I really don’t like to camp and I have developed an aversion to frigid temperatures. The amazing thing is that I was okay with dropping that dream.

Another dream I had was to take up sky diving. The idea of falling and then gliding down to the ground filled my adolescent mind as the most thrilling thing I could do. But along the way (I think it occurred when I bore my first child), I developed a great fear of heights. One day I was okay climbing along cliffs and standing on the roof of a tall building, and the next day I was feeling dizzy, faint and sick to my stomach to climb to the top of my children’s playground. I now have a daughter that wants to sky dive and I smile and think, I wonder if her dream will last. I don’t discourage her, but I feel ulcers developing just thinking about her jumping out of a plane.

One dream that I had as a young girl, though, has stayed with me. Fear and discomfort has not rid me of the idea of being a beekeeper. Earlier this year I took a class, talked to other beekeepers, and read books and articles filling my head with everything I could. I prepared. My parents obliged my request for a bee hive for Christmas and I bought other supplies. So this past Saturday, I became a beekeeper. As with everything my ideals and the actual reality didn’t match up. Handling bees is not easy! Before taking my bees home, I watched my instructor install a package of bees and it looked so simple. The bees were not very active. The instructor didn’t even wear gloves and took off his veil early on. So, I thought, I’ll do the same. My bees were a bit more active, though, and they let me know that they were not too pleased with me by giving me a couple of stings.

My bees!!

I humbly donned my veil and gloves after that and the rest of the installation went well. I am super excited with my bees. After 48 hours I peeked in and saw they were making comb and cleaning house (they were pulling out bees who had died in the package).

Building comb.

I’m thankful to be able to have bees. I have learned so much about God’s creation and amazing design just in learning about this small insect. We have an awesome creator!